


My Name is Timothy Lawrence

by lastoftheorder



Category: Borderlands (Video Games)
Genre: Angst, Dark, Gen, Happy Ending, Implied Attempted Suicide, Stream of Consciousness
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-04-09
Updated: 2019-04-09
Packaged: 2020-01-07 12:29:29
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,745
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18410666
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/lastoftheorder/pseuds/lastoftheorder
Summary: A collection of echo recordings from Timothy Lawrence talking about his experiences.





	My Name is Timothy Lawrence

**Author's Note:**

> This has been rolling around in my head for a while, so I finally decided to buckle down and write it. It's messy and quick, but it was fun to write.

My name is Timothy Lawrence, and I’m a broke post-grad. 

I just graduated college with a degree in creative writings. Yeah, I know. It’s a stupid degree and won’t get me anywhere in life. But books are cool, okay? And getting a degree is better than no degree at all, even if it is kinda a dumb degree. At least I got into college, (Although it set me back nearly a quarter of a million dollars) and at least I could leave my home life behind just for a little bit. 

Mom didn’t think I should go. She thought I should have stayed home and helped around the house. That I should find some grocery store job and be happy with that for the rest of my life. But I know I’m meant for more; that I’m capable of more. 

My professor approached me the other day, saying how he knew of a job offer with Hyperion. Said it would be a gateway of opportunities. I dunno; he wouldn’t give me details on it, only said that it could erase my debt. Normally I would dismiss something like this, but I’m kinda desperate at the moment.

I think I’ll try it out. 

Timothy Lawrence signing off.  
**************************************************************************************************

My name is Tim… Jack. My name will be Jack. I’m a low-level Hyperion programmer with big ambitions. 

Yeah right. Low level my ass. This guy is in charge of the Helios project in Hyperion and can hire his own friggin’ body double. I’ve watched enough echo tapes of this guy to be able to copy him to near perfection. What an arrogant douchebag. 

I took the job with Hyperion, and when I went into the interview I was knocked unconscious and woke up to the feeling of having a rusty screwdriver being prodded into my eye socket. Turns out this ‘job’ was becoming the body double of a Hyperion muckety-muck. 

The good news is that I no longer have student loans. The bad news is that “I” don’t exist anymore. Every bone in my body has been shaped into Jack’s, my DNA edited and coded to replicate Jack’s cells. My skin, my freckles, my hair...it’s all gone; I’ve been replaced by a chiseled handsome, bronzed god of sexiness and all I can think of is how much I want my ugly face back. And I’m going to be like this for the next 20 years, more if it’s irreversible (which I highly suspect it is) 

The plus side is I got laid for the first time, and I have a dick bigger than a friggin’ oak tree. Whooh! Go me. I get to have girls screaming Jack’s name rather than mine. This is NOT how I expected to lose my V-card, but what the hell. At least it’s gone? Gah, I feel dirty. 

Anyways, I don’t exist anymore, all that fun stuff. I thought my mom would be sad, but apparently she just… laughed. Maybe it was her way of grieving? 

And this voice modulator really hurts! 

My life is shit. 

Hold on, I’m getting an echo transmission- Jack needs me on Helios, pronto. 

Timothy… uh, Jack signing off. 

**********************************************************************************

My name is T- Jack. My name is Jack. 

I’ve killed a lot of people. I mean, I guess it’s my job? At least they’re all bad people. Ugh, even nice people are murderers here. 

There is a huge upside to all of this; I met the girl of my dreams. She’s got the prettiest face I’ve ever seen; if only she wasn’t Jack’s...uh, my, Ex. She’s smart, too. I could write poem after poem about her and her beauty. 

I think I might also be wrong about Jack. he’s not a complete asshole. I mean, he’s risking his life to save us. He’s got some good ideas. He’s smart. Other than the whole ‘I have to kill people’ thing, I don’t think this is so bad. I’m a hero. A sexy one, too. And the digijacks are really cool. 

My team is pretty nice too (except for Claptrap; that guy sucks). Athena is distant, but a total badass. She’s saved my back a couple of times. Wilhelm is cool and really strong. I wish he’d stop calling me ‘pretty boy’ though, it kinda creeps me out. Especially when he stares at me and licks his lips like I’m food or something. Other than that, I really like the weird robot guy. Nisha flat out scares me, and I’m really glad I’m working with her, not against her. She kicks ass, too. Then there’s Aurelia, some rich so-and-so from another planet. Everyone says she’s some badass bitch, but I look at her and see kindness buried deep in there. 

Anyways, I’m here in Concordia. I’ve got my own room in the Merriff’s level to rest in between missions, getting ready to meet with a guy named Pickle. Everyone else is sleeping. I should too, but I don’t know when I’ll have time to make one of these again. 

Jack, the real one, signing off. 

*******************************************************************************

My name is Jimothy. Or at least that’s what I told the Vault Hunters right before Jack murdered our allies in a gruesome, horrible death. And I helped with it. 

I gathered them up and sent them to their deaths. One even had a kid; a family. The way Moxxi and the other Vault Hunters looked at me… things are changing. I still have to do my job and all, or my face may detonate, but… There’s no going back to the way things were. 

The hero in Jack is fading. I’m watching it die in front of me, and the way Wilhelm and Nisha seem to love it scares me. Am I really fighting for the good guys? 

And, oh god, dear Felicity. 

I-I have to go. I don’t know what Jack will do if he catches me with this. Please let this all be okay. 

Jack, signing off.  
*****************************************************************************

My name is Jack. I don’t know how long it will be until I become ‘handsome’ but it’s only a matter of time until I get the brand. 

Every time I look at Handsome Jack I feel queasy, knowing that his face will soon become mine. I think it’s been his vanity that has kept me safe for so long, but what happens when he likes his mask? What happens when he grows tired of another man wearing his perfect face? I’m not a mirror, but a preserved memory. 

Every time he calls me into his office I think ‘this is it’. I’m so scared. 

My heart aches and it’s hard to eat. I can’t take life like this. I go down to Elpis for one task or another and every time I weild a gun in Hyperion’s name it’s more blood on my hands that I can’t wash out. Every time I close my eyes I see Gladstone being crushed to death as he clung to life in the airlock. I feel the same way. I feel like I’m clinging to an edge that’s rapidly pulling me out into the cold depths of space while there’s something behind me ready to pry off my fingers and crush whatever is left of me. 

I wanna die. 

My only comfort is in the two digijacks at my side who mutter my curses along side of me, like they’re learning from me. I want to give them more in this hollow world but I’m not a programmer. I’m barely a man. 

Jack needs me later today on deck 13.5. He’s just taken over Hyperion and I can’t help but think this is the end for me. One way or another. 

***********************************************************************************************************

My name is Handsome Jack. 

I’m not going to do this anymore. I can’t do this anymore. Timothy Lawrence is dead, and it’s about time whatever is left of his corpse died as well.

Every day I die a little more. The things Jack has done to me has made me do, is enough for me to risk any Hell because it can’t be worse than this. 

I want to rip my skin apart for the things I’ve done. I can still feel Wilhelm’s hot breath on my neck after Jack ‘sold’ me to him for a night. I can still feel the blood of the people I’ve executed flowing down my fingers. I can still feel the thrum of slag as I pumped it into a man’s skin. There are not enough showers in the world to wash everything away. 

This-this will be my last echo recording. I have the bullet primed and ready to go. I’m sorry for what I’ve done in Jack’s name.

Me, signing off for the last time. Goodbye.

*************************************************************************************************************

My name is…Timothy Lawrence. That still sounds weird to say. 

If someone told me a month ago I’d be where I am today, I would have told them they were crazy. Hell, maybe I am crazy, or maybe I did kill myself that night and this is heaven. But I know that’s not true because I don’t deserve heaven, and surgery hurts too much. 

After my...last recording, I was ready to die. I really was, but then Athena called me. She said it was time I got out of there, and that she was sorry I had to wait for so long. 

She and Aurelia never forgot about me. They’d been planning this whole time to get me out of Helios and out of Jack’s grasp. Aurelia said she couldn’t wait for me to work for her. 

I got out of Helios by some miracle, and Jack was pissed. I guess I should feel guilty that he raided a whole town on Pandora to let out his anger, but I’m just relieved that I’m safe. And I have a rough approximation of my old face back (not entirely, though. Aurelia said she doesn’t like ugly servants). At least I have my freckles! 

I work as a gardener on the Hammerlock estate. The weather is always beautiful, and it gives me plenty of inspiration to write. 

I have a small house on nearby grounds, and a tabby cat named Buster. When I’m not working, I spend my time writing. Maybe I’ll write a kids book about bears. 

I’m glad life gave me a second chance. I got out from under Jack’s thumb. I’m free. I’m myself again, and I will heal from the lasting wounds. 

Timothy Lawrence signing off.


End file.
